


Unfinished

by justalittlegreen



Series: Sunshine and Filth [30]
Category: MASH (1970), MASH (TV)
Genre: F/M, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-29
Updated: 2018-11-29
Packaged: 2019-09-02 07:36:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16782541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justalittlegreen/pseuds/justalittlegreen





	Unfinished

Hawkeye doesn't give them the chance to talk about it - after the dishes are cleared, he announces that he intends to go sleep off the day and the flight. He thanks Peggy for dinner twice, keeping himself at a careful distance, hardly even joking with her.   
  
"I'll walk you to your room," says BJ in a tone that brooks no argument. He kisses the top of Peg's head - she's busy at the sink, up to her elbows in suds - and whispers,"I'll be up in a minute, promise. Just one minute."  
  
As soon as she's sure they're not looking, she watches them head down the hallway, walking side by side in a space hardly wide enough to fit them - shoulder to elbow, their thumbs hooked together, heads bent and murmuring. The image ricochets, banging against her chest. She feels like crying for the fourteenth time in three days.

BJ's as good as his promise - he's back in the kitchen before she finishes scrubbing off the roasting pan. He comes up behind her, sliding his hands around her waist. "Mmm," he rumbles, dropping a kiss on her head. "Why don't we leave that to soak tonight? Might be easier in the morning."  
  
Peg keeps scrubbing. "We don't know that," she says, more tersely than she'd like. "I'd rather get it done now, go to bed without anything unfinished."  
  
He strokes her arm, lightly petting the places where her muscles are tightest. "I don't think that's quite possible, my love."  
  
She stops, hanging her head. "It's all so confusing," she admits. "I can see how good you are for him - I can see how it happened, how it fit, how it made sense there."  
  
"You're good for me, too, Peg," he says, some urgency creeping into his voice. "You can't think he was a replacement for you - any more than if we had another child, he would replace Erin."  
  
 _Or any more than Erin was a replacement for me_ , she thinks, and the thought offers a moment of ease, a moment of softness where everything else feels tight and difficult. 

"I love you so much, Peggy Jane."  
  
The words _I know_ are about to fall off her tongue, habit and rote and reassuring, but she swallows them and starts pulling off her dish gloves.  
  
"Let's go to bed."  
  
She can hear the unsaid hurt in him, practically feel the tightness in her own chest as they climb the stairs. He puts on a pair of actual pajamas instead of sleeping in shorts, and she puts on one of her warmest, most conservative nightgowns. Once they're in the dark under the covers, she can tell neither of them is ready to fall asleep. She wants to say something, do something to get across these chasms that have been building between them all day, and for the life of her, she's got no idea where to begin.  
  
"Peg?" his voice is barely a whisper, tentative as a butterfly landing on her hand.  
  
"Mhmm?"  
  
"You think you could stand to let me hold you a bit?"  
  
And just like that, Peg feels like they've come closer to each other than they've been in days. She rolls over - he knows it means she wants him to come play spoons - and he curls up behind her, kissing her temple and lacing his fingers between hers. She sags back against his chest, so unaccustomed to the layers of fabric between them, and he rocks her gently, much the way he does when Erin fusses at bedtime. And slowly, in familiar sound of his breath and the impossible comfort of being held, Peg relinquishes herself to sleep.


End file.
